Why use Linux?

I can think of a few reasons, but I'm sure people who've used Linux more than I have can tell me more.

The reasons I've thought of:

Linux is free. Windows costs money. Both of them let you do many of the same things.

'Sticking it to the man'. The man in this case being whoever is in charge of Microsoft these days, or just Microsoft as a whole. Bill Gates is focusing on his charity efforts these days I hear. Some people don't want to support big companies and this could be a reason to use Linux. I personally don't have a problem with them.
As a backup. I personally have a bootable CD with some variety of Linux on. I've used it to return files before when Windows wouldn't boot for whatever reason. I also used it as a temporary OS while sorting out other problems, though I mostly used it to play MP3s.

I used to have Linux on a old laptop, so I know a thing or two about it.

First of all, Linux is indeed free, so it might help you save some money by not buying an OS. Most PCs these days come with a pre-installed OS, though.

Second, it can run on very outdated machines, which is a great thing for people that don't want to update their hardware. Software-wise, Linux gets updates regularly and I think you're even allowed to play around with its source code.

The only disadvantage I could find is the fact that most games aren't compatible with it, so for gaming you're better off with Windows.

Most distros are free. It can be as lightweight or as heavy as you want. Nearly all of the software is free, too. The developer tools on Linux are absolutely astounding. It's great for servers, as well.

It's free, comes in an infinity of different flavors - some of which are very lightweight, good for older machines.
I just installed lubuntu on an old laptop and it's running a lot smoother than windows did.

One thing that does need improvement is dual-booting. A new bootloader would be much appreciated. I've lost count of how many times I've needed to grab my Boot-repair cd because GRUB got messed up somehow.

Most distros are free. It can be as lightweight or as heavy as you want. Nearly all of the software is free, too. The developer tools on Linux are absolutely astounding. It's great for servers, as well.

Isn't Steam coming to Linux soon?

Click to expand...

Yeah the ability to make something lightweight is pretty amazing. I don't think you can recompile a kernel a Windows operating system like you can a Linux one, which kinda sucks.

I guess it is also nice to know that everything you install and configure can easily be backed up if you know where the .conf file is. Plus installing with scripts is pretty damn nice!

Most distros are free. It can be as lightweight or as heavy as you want. Nearly all of the software is free, too. The developer tools on Linux are absolutely astounding. It's great for servers, as well.

Isn't Steam coming to Linux soon?

Click to expand...

Could you expand on this? I guess that by lightweight or heavy, it means the parts which are installed. What sort of things are commonly seen as optional in Linux distros? Or do you mean that different varieties are lightweight or heavy?

Steam is already on Linux I believe, but of course not many games work for it. There was a Team Fortress 2 promotion to get some special item by logging on from a Linux PC.

Could you expand on this? I guess that by lightweight or heavy, it means the parts which are installed. What sort of things are commonly seen as optional in Linux distros? Or do you mean that different varieties are lightweight or heavy?

Steam is already on Linux I believe, but of course not many games work for it. There was a Team Fortress 2 promotion to get some special item by logging on from a Linux PC.

Click to expand...

The biggest thing that comes to mind is the UI. You can do everything and anything in Linux with no UI. Maybe you want one, but you've got a ten year old laptop. Try Fluxbox with Arch or Debian. Or LXDE with Lubuntu or Arch or any other distro. Want a faster distro, compiled entirely from scratch with a kernel made almost specifically for your computer? Try Gentoo. It's a pain to setup, but it's a lot of fun and can make a bit of a difference speed-wise. Or maybe try LinuxFromScratch. Install only the most basic things. Don't need ed? Don't include it.

You also have control over the minute details of all running processes and services, to a much, much greater extent than possible with Windows.

Arch is considered a happy medium between distros like Gentoo and distros like Ubuntu. It's highly customizable. Want your own kernel? Sure! You can do that. Want specific sound drivers, compiled by you? Yup, that too.

That's why Linux is so great for a server. Not only are the package managers a godsend, but being able to have such control with no UI is so absolutely useful. If you need peak performance, you can optimize things to your heart's content, nit-picking every little detail, squeezing every last drop of speed out of that box.

I can think of a few reasons, but I'm sure people who've used Linux more than I have can tell me more.

The reasons I've thought of:

Linux is free. Windows costs money. Both of them let you do many of the same things.

'Sticking it to the man'. The man in this case being whoever is in charge of Microsoft these days, or just Microsoft as a whole. Bill Gates is focusing on his charity efforts these days I hear. Some people don't want to support big companies and this could be a reason to use Linux. I personally don't have a problem with them.

As a backup. I personally have a boot-able CD with some variety of Linux on. I've used it to return files before when Windows wouldn't boot for whatever reason. I also used it as a temporary OS while sorting out other problems, though I mostly used it to play MP3s.

On the “Linux is free” part of your post, I agree with that. I remember when PC’s were first out, you could go to the computer store and buy a PC with a hard drive installed, and monitor and take it home, but it wouldn’t boot because you forgot to buy DOS. My boss wouldn’t even let us format the hard drive if the customer didn’t buy DOS because command.com would be on the hard drive, and the hard drive would be bootable, and I remember thinking (wrongly) that it did make sense, and it wasn’t fair.

And I thought for a long time that Windows should be free, because if you bought a computer, it should run right out of the box. But these days, when you buy a PC, you get Windows pre-installed, and you still pay for it as part of the cost of the computer.

I wonder if I can get a refund from Microsoft for taking Windows off my machine?

Why do I use Linux?
~ It has all drivers right out of the box (save for a few graphics drivers), and you don't have to go searching around potentially shady websites looking for that one driver to make that one piece of hardware work
~ It's free. Microsoft expects you to shell out at least $100 for their operating system. When there's a viable alternative that is free to use, why pay?
~ It's fully customizable. Don't like this distro? There's hundreds others. Don't like the desktop environment? There's at least 5 to choose from. Window themes, icon themes, screen brightness or even the little things like the start menu icon are all fully customizable and you're free to poke and prod the source as much as you want
~ One of the most secure operating systems in the world. It requires the root password to do anything really harmful to the computer, meaning that even if you catch a virus it'll need permission to do anything out of your home directory
~ Updates often and all at once. Instead of taking a month to patch that new security hole, updates are handed out on a daily basis and is normally done silently, keeping your system constantly updated with the latest patches and features. Not to mention the fact that all software updates at once, instead of having to do each one individually or having multiple update software running at the same time which really bogs down your computer.
~ Performs all needed tasks. It does exactly what I need it to do when I need it to do it.The list goes on and on but I think I'll just stop here. Love to hear some other people talk about why they use Linux.

Aside from being free, what I like most about Linux is how I can customize it as much as I want. I can also do all the things I need to do on Linux just as fine as I could on Windows. The only time I use my Windows machine is when I'm playing games.